Grossmont High breaks ground on humanities building

Ground was broken Wednesday on a new humanities building at Grossmont High School in El Cajon. The $17.4 million project is expected to be complete in the spring of 2013.
— Photo courtesy Grossmont Union High School District

Ground was broken Wednesday on a new humanities building at Grossmont High School in El Cajon. The $17.4 million project is expected to be complete in the spring of 2013.
/ Photo courtesy Grossmont Union High School District

EL CAJON  Mugging for cameras and flinging spadefuls of dirt with the greatest of ease, Grossmont Union High School District trustees, contractors and others broke ground Wednesday on Grossmont High School’s new $17.4 million Humanities Classroom Building.

The ceremony officially marked the beginning of the Proposition U-funded project to build 31 state-of-the-art classrooms, 10 tennis courts and a Career Technical Education facility for the school’s automotive technology program. Clearing and prepping the three-acre site on the east end of the campus began in late November.

Construction is expected to be completed in March 2013.

Replacing more than 20 portable classrooms and outmoded facilities, the new two-story, 35,000-square-foot building will feature covered walkways on both levels, a free-standing elevator and stair tower that will create a new portal to the campus, and landscaping. It will be the campus’ first new English building since the 1930s, according to Donald Ginn, a social science teacher who spoke at the ground breaking.

San Diego architects LPA, Inc. designed the project. Riha Construction of La Mesa is the general contractor.

School district Superintendent Ralf Swenson said the Grossmont High project is a key component of the $417 million Proposition U Bond measure passed by East County voters in November 2008. More than 75 jobs have been created and three-fourths of the work is being done by East County businesses, he said.

“That is a nice thing to be able to do in these tough economic times,” Swenson said.

In thanking East County taxpayers for their support, school board President Robert Shield said of the project, “This is one little bit of evidence of a great future.”